The EU member state Slovakia is in a political crisis. Now President Zuzana Caputova has announced the formation of a government of experts and civil servants. Financial expert Ludovit Odor, the current Deputy Governor of the Slovak National Bank NBS, will head this.

His ministers have already been selected, but their appointment will not occur until the week beginning May 15 because they want to inform the parliamentary parties beforehand, the President said in Bratislava. Until then, acting Minister President Eduard Heger has a duty to continue his work.

The government would include experts who have no intention of running in the Sept. 30 general election, Caputova said. This should rule out that someone abuses the temporary government function for election campaign purposes.

Interim Prime Minister Heger had previously submitted his resignation for himself and his cabinet. According to him, the reason is that Caputova has not accepted any of his suggestions regarding how he could lead the government in the current crisis.

The government lost its parliamentary majority in the summer of 2022 and a vote of no confidence in December. Nevertheless, she managed to delay the new elections that were planned after the government’s fall until the end of September.

In the past few days, the political crisis in the country has worsened: Last Thursday, Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlcan resigned because of suspicious millions in subsidies for a company he runs. A day later, Foreign Minister Ratislav Kacer announced his resignation without giving a reason.

The conservative-populist government under Heger’s leadership is among the most determined military supporters of neighbouring Ukraine, which Russia has attacked. Like Heger, Caputova advocates military support for Ukraine. Therefore, for the time being, Slovakia’s foreign policy course is not expected to change.

Image by Wikimedia (European Parliament)/ Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC-BY 2.0)